Can you name the entire shadow cabinet? No? Nor I. They're all here, and even I am amazed why some people made the cut – though there are some smart people there whose names you may not know either. I will not damage their prospects by awarding them a gold star here.

But it's important to Labour, and therefore to us all indirectly. The internal health of party democracies feeds through to the wider democratic space we occupy. It's fragile and constantly under threat from forces which would atrophy it during these turbulent, globalised times.

That's bad, and leads me to the conclusion that Miliband is doing his party – and the rest of us – a disservice in trying to dump a time-honoured tradition, bloody annoying though it can be, and pretty useless though some elected shadow types turn out to be. I can see why he wants to do it – but, on balance, he's wrong.

It wasn't long ago that annual elections to a Labour shadow cabinet, or its national executive (NEC), were an important part of the political season – like Wimbledon or Ascot. When X started making firebrand speeches or Y got himself thrown out of the Commons for misconduct, you knew the NEC ballot papers must have gone out or that he was planning to run for the shadow.

Like most inner party manoeuvres, it matters less in these quasi-presidential times, driven by the often-foolish imperatives of 24/7 rolling news, feather-brain financial markets and Twitter. David Cameron is always banging on about giving away power, devolving it to ordinary folk – but he treats his own party pretty badly much of the time.

He's not alone in that. Lovable Labour leftwinger John McDonnell was on the radio at dawn complaining that Miliband's move, to be announced in a speech on Saturday, explained to MPs on Monday and put to Labour's party conference in September, would be a lurch back to the bad old "patronage of the Blair era".

That's selective amnesia, too. Gordon Brown was just as bad, and most leaders would be autocrats if their colleagues and party constitutions didn't stop them. After all, some colleagues are completely useless except at making crowd-pleasing speeches and ducking blame. It's true in most walks of life.

But McDonnell is right to say that Labour activists and trade union supporters want more democracy in their party, as do backbench MPs. That's true of all the parties these days, in ways that would have astonished an Attlee or Lloyd George in times when deference was more entrenched.

Miliband's aides say he's doing it to reassert his authority, shaky enough at present, and to curb the passions of the rival party factions that run shadow cabinet slates at this time of year, ahead of autumn elections. MPs had already voted to stage elections only every other year – a decent enough compromise, I'd say.

The latest move would, of course, also give young Ed the power to pick his own shadow team and exclude disloyal Blairites, Brownites any other ites. I wouldn't exaggerate that bit – there is no evidence that Ed Mil itches to sack A or B and promote C, or that the Labour benches heave with unrewarded talent.

2010 was actually a good intake on both sides, and whenever I watch a debate I see smart backbenchers making their mark with well-judged speeches and interventions. Good – it's part of the politician's skill set. Time spent in the chamber, or watching from the press gallery, is rarely wasted, unfashionable though it is.

But there is an unhealthy counter-trend towards more and more MPs – in all parties – getting jobs that curb their independence by requiring them to toe the line set by el presidente, the party leader of the moment.

I was astonished this week to learn that Brown still has an unpaid parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in Alison McGovern, the new MP for the flatlands of Wirral South. As George Osborne quipped when she interrupted his speech, why does an MP who rarely attends parliament need a parliamentary private secretary?

Contrast this trend – Tories and Lib Dems are just as bad – with a healthier reform that emerged, amid all the high-flown bullshit, from the parliamentary reform campaign that got fresh wind from the expenses scandal. Backbench MPs acquired the power to elect the chairmen and women who run Commons select committees instead of them being picked by party whips.

The result has been a mixed bag, as always. But two examples serve to justify the reform. Stephen Dorrell, an ex-health secretary, was elected (by Labour as well as coalition MPs) to chair the health select committee, where he has done a good job criticising the Andrew Lansley NHS bill – subtle, but effective.

Even more spectacularly, Andrew Tyrie, an ex-Treasury official and now the Tory MP for Chichester, was elected to chair the Treasury committee, where he has been a persistent and perceptive critic of the City and its spurious bonus culture as well as of important aspects of Treasury policy under Osborne. He was at it again this week.

Both MPs have credibility with the people they criticise.

It's inconceivable that the whips would have allowed either of them to get anywhere near the job they were voted into. Michael Fallon, much more of a party hack, would have got the Treasury job and someone loyal got health.

Remember, mild John Major's whips invented a two-terms rule to get Nick Winterton (strangely pro-NHS) out of the health chairmanship, Tony Blair tried (and failed) to unseat Gwyneth Dunwoody, the late, lamented chair at transport, for being the obstreperous old dragon she was. It's not that they're always right, but decisions should be contested.

And so should party leaders. Besides, there's another good reason why Ed Mil should go with the flow on this one. If he ever wins an election, he would be free to drop elected shadow ministers from his real cabinet, as PMs have done for ever.

Until then, it doesn't really matter much. Between you and me, Ed, no one much cares about the shadow cabinet at this stage of the cycle. Ambitious MPs can practice with hardly anyone watching – a bit like appearing on Sky News.

And if an Ed Balls, fired up with energy and belief in his own economic policies, makes a stir – as the shadow chancellor did this week with his plan to make a temporary cut in VAT – then treat it as a bonus and enjoy it. He's a talented fellow and no threat to your position.

Take my word for it. When the time comes, it will be someone else.

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